Kiste, Alan  

Kiste made chem fun an interesting, which is hard to do. He is very understanding of students and always made time to meet and help out. No homework just labs, Midterms were hard and he writes them himself but curves the class generously. overall would definitely recommend!

Avoid this professor at all costs! He is new to Cal Poly and has a terrible teaching style. He teaches the most simple things during lecture and then his tests are near impossible. The class average on both of our midterms was an F, with the highest grade being a C-. I asked a fourth year chemistry major to do some of the problems from my midterm and she couldn't even answer them. He doesn't help during office hours and will never tell you if your answer to a problem is correct. He's all around just a terrible professor.

Going to lecture is extremely important for this class. Kiste is a very friendly person and his lectures are helpful in understanding the material. HOWEVER, his tests are extremely difficult. 60% average on the first test, 65% average on the second. He makes the questions way too difficult for an introductory chemistry class. Take this class if you're willing to do a TON of studying because mastery, not just understanding, of the topics is what you'll need to succeed on the tests.

Lecture was filled with meaningless information that was not on the test. The average for the weekly quizzes ranged from week to week. The average for the midterm was extremely low, and blamed the class for the low average. He also refused to tell us what our grade was throughout the course claiming it was not "curved". While he is helpful during office hours, his exam question are impossible for an hour class, or general chemistry class. Having a strong chemistry class is essential, even it is a general chemistry course.

This professor was horrible. Do not take him. His testing material is impossible to answer and that resulted in a low average for the majority of the class.

I went to every lecture, read every chapter, took extensive notes and still failed the 2 midterms, along with almost everyone else in the class. He covered the main topics of chemistry well, and from all my studying I felt like I personally learned a lot, but his tests are horribly difficult and there is not enough time to complete them in the hour we had. I don't recommend taking if you have a choice, and if you don't, plan on putting in a lot of hours of studying.

Kiste... His tests are too hard and focused around tricking students. They are NOT straightforward. I studied a lot for this class, and I only got an A because I've taken chemistry at a JC over the summer. In studying for the final, I looked at previous tests from other Chen teachers... Wow. There's are more straightforward and fair. Also, in lab you are quizzed every week about things you haven't learned. Seriously... He's an average teacher who teaches well but tests poorly. Avoid if you can

You know why I got an A in Kiste's class? Because I did what he told us to do on day one. Yes, you need to do the reading (equivalent of about one chapter a week). Yes, you need to drag yourself to the lectures. And yes, you are responsible for keeping up with the material because there is no homework. But this is college, you gotta work. Kiste is usually in his office and always willing to help. He has methodical and organized way of teaching that is easy to adapt to. And the quizzes are very predictable because they are straight from the lectures. Chemistry is difficult, Kiste is not.

Know why I got an A in this class? Because I happened to do less horribly than 90% of the other students. My grade does not reflect my comprehension of chemistry or work ethic, it simply means I wasn't tricked by his obnoxious, abstract test questions as much as the poor freshmen. Kiste explicitly states that all the material from the textbook is fair game, but covers about 5% of it in lecture. As a result, his lectures are very slow and easy, tricking students into thinking they fully comprehend the complex topics. And the worst part is that Kiste himself doesn't even have a thorough comprehension. His in-class examples were plagued with errors in concepts as simple as unit conversions! and students had to correct him on a daily basis. His lectures were very poorly organized and absolutely did not reflect the difficulty of his tests. Fortunately the dean was more receptive to these critiques than Kiste, and forced him to provide us with study materials so we actually knew what we would be expected to know for the final. What a concept.

Dr. Kiste is definitely a very intelligent chemist. He seems very passionate about the subject, and he was always very willing to answer my questions. I think he cares a lot about his students. However, I think his teaching style makes an already difficult class even more challenging. He teaches the basics and relies on the book to explain the rest to us, and learning an entire 12 chapters on your own can be very overwhelming. The only reason I got the grade I did was because I hired a private tutor twice a week and relied on other students who had taken AP Chem to help me out. I found it very difficult to make it through his midterms within the hour, and he tested on subjects that were only briefly covered in lectures and labs. Kiste included examples from organic chemistry and added extraneous information on his tests which only confused me more. He told us that we needed to do every problem in the back of the book in order to prepare for midterms and quizzes, which was honestly unrealistic and time consuming. He did provide chapter study guides with concepts and corresponding problems, but they were very limited and the problems were not very helpful. I think it would have been more helpful for his students if he gave us a list of problems, made his own study guides, or even posted lectures somewhere online. If you are okay with unorganized lectures and you are willing to do a lot of studying on your own/go to his office hours A LOT, you will do fine in his class. Otherwise I would suggest trying for someone else.

He's very unclear in teaching the concepts. I wouldn't suggest him to teach the basics for chem 127-129. But he's a lot more helpful in office hours which is what I should have done earlier. His tests are weird too. They're not from the book practice problems and he doesn't really prepare you for his midterms and final. I don't know how I got a C, but I don't I would end up failing the class because the class average was a 60 percent for the first two midterm exams. Horrible! I heard he's good at teaching O-chem though.

by all means try to avoid him, he really can't teach, and whats on the test is NEVER mentioned in lecture, labs u have to complete a prefab no problem, just he deducts points like crazy and theres a quiz on every lab before u do the lab that are ridiculously hard. if YOU HAVE TO then maybe but if possible avoid!!!

Doesn't know how to teach general Chemistry. I worked my ass off and he still didn't test us on what he taught us. If you can avoid him, DON'T TAKE HIM!!

Dr. Kiste wrote really hard tests and quizzes if you were not prepared but if you are ready to do the problems and want to learn he is a very good teacher and very helpful in office hours.

I don't understand why Dr. Kiste has such a low rating. He is the nicest professor I have ever had! Almost all other professors seem to scare me when I ask questions but Dr. Kiste is alllways there to help you and makes me feel not scared to ask questions. (I usually never ask questions in class exept his) Yes the average to his tests are in the 60 percent range, once for chem 127 even in the 40 percent range BBBUUUUTTT he makes the average be the C+/B- range!!!!!!!!! So, if I got an average (60%) on a test that's average was (60%), I would get a C+/B- grade in class! Take Kiste, I would take him again. His ties are awesome too.

I've had Kiste for Chem 127 and 128, but i will not be taking him for 129. Kiste is a reasonable guy and a good lecturer. Overall i really like Kiste, he's fair and tells you exactly what he expects from you. However, he is very hard. He has high expectations for what you need to do to prepare for his midterms, which are difficult. His grading system is sometimes confusing but in general is fair. If you're up for the challenge i recommend Kiste. However, if you're just chasing a good grade or you don't have much interest in Chemistry, i recommend you take someone easier. The worst part of Kiste's class was the fact that it was only offered at 7:00am, which is why i'm taking another professor for 129

sucks really avoid unless u want to spend 20 hrs a week preparing for his class

Kiste was very difficult to understand basic concepts through his confusing lectures. In lab you would not simply answer your questions. Yes he made you think to find the answer, but when truly stuck he was not help. His exams are all write in answers. He is a difficult teacher. This HARD CLASS, you really want a good professor. I do like his grading curve. He considers a 65% a "C" and does the calculations of the class therefore to give A's, B's, D's and F's. Good luck with Kiste. You'll be working hard for that "C".

Kiste is a terrible Professor. What more can I say? His test are insanely difficult and he barely lectures. During the whole 2 hours there are days when all we would do is lab. That's it. He made us just use the computer and follow a confusing worksheet. He did not lecture at all. When he does, he just speaks what's on his mind. He is extremely discouraging and I just hate him. He doesn't teach. Kiste, if you are reading this, please resign from Cal Poly and stop teaching!! Terrible professor. Just flat out terrible.

condescending.

I didn't like Dr. Kiste as a professor. He didn't like to lecture so we would often do labs the entire class period with our lab partner...I didn't learn anything in class. I had to teach myself everything and get help from friends. I could have easily spent 20 hours a week studying for this class alone. When he did lecture he was confusing and wouldn't teach us stuff that was on the tests. I love chemistry but I disliked this class because of Dr. Kiste.

As a first year, this professor is probably the best professor I have had yet. He explains the material and labs clearly. People might say his tests are difficult(usually will be said by someone who doesn't really try in the class), but honestly if you come prepared they are not that bad. Overall, he is a great guy and I would highly recommend him as a professor.

Kiste is awesome!! He gives very clear notes and finds patterns in almost everything he teaches so that it is easier for you to remember it later. Don't get me wrong, you have to work hard in the class to be able to do well on the exams but he definitely prepares you for them.

Kiste is really intelligent. No doubt, he's a genius when it comes to chemistry. But I really don't understand why the chemistry department appointed him to teach general chem. He clearly should be only teaching organic chem, or a higher level chem. The fact that he expects so much from students who haven't seen chem since their sophomore year of high school is ridiculous. His tests killed mod people in the class. His tests are ridiculously hard. This class is the type of class where you need to spend 20+ preparing for this class and forget all your other classes to pass. He wasn't very helpful during tests, I mean I understand you can't give me the answer but obviously repeating the question to me also isn't going to help me get the problem. If you want to feel queasy the entire quarter thinking about how your chem grade is turning out, definitely take kiste!

Dr. Kiste and superman once fought each other on a bet. The loser had to start wearing his underwear on the outside of his pants.

I thought he was a really great teacher. Just study and you'll do fine on the midterms. He has a great fashion sense too.

Dr. Kiste's area of profession is chemistry education, which is extremely apparent in his ability to convey information to students. Almost all complaints you will hear about him are that his exams are too hard, and that he expects students to be chemistry prodigies. ONLY TAKE HIS CLASS IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO LEARN THE CHEMISTRY, not memorize and regurgitate. This man will challenge you, and you will always walk out of lecture feeling a little bit of pain in the brain. However, my experience with him was unforgettable, and I could not have imagined a better foundation for my general chemistry knowledge. I HIGHLY recommend his class.

LOL at all the Kiste nuthuggers out there. To give an objective approach, maybe kiste did change up his style of teaching, but when I took this guy he was all over the place in his lectures and highly disorganized. I taught myself everything and learned from myself, upperclassmen and believe it or not from other professors who explain chemistry much better and who are more approachable.

This class is very challenging if you don't have a strong background in chemistry. He's well organized and explains things pretty well, but his tests are terrible. 65%-80% is a B and 80% and above is an A in his class so that helps out your grade alot!

Dr. Kiste was the best CHEM teacher I have ever had. It was the best possible way to start general chemistry at Cal Poly and because he was so trained in the art of TEACHING as opposed to just being knowledgeable about Chemistry, he was able to see where people were having difficulty and move past that. He was incredibly helpful in office hours and as a lab instructor and his poly learn page is very clear and helpful for success in his class. I really enjoyed taking his class and he got me excited about chemistry because of how passionate he was about the topic. His midterms were written and very difficult but they were fair if you listened in class and did your work. Honestly, the only reason I got a B was because I slacked more than I should have.

He will completely kill any confidence you have at all regarding chemistry. Other professors have told their students that Kiste is the reason students with real talent switch their majors because they don't believe they can handle chemistry. Just trust me, avoid at all costs!!!

Kiste is awesome. He really works hard to help you learn, particularly in office hours and he voluntarily has his own workshop because there wasn't an SWS for the course. He gives you all his old exams for practice and if you keep up with the material you'll do fine. Plus it isn't just boring lecture for hours, we spent lots of time doing labs. I'm already registered for his 128 class.

Dr. Kiste is completely unwilling to help his students in class and presents things in a very difficult way. His exams are nearly impossible and his pretentious attitude does not help.

I read some of the negative comments above and needed to comment. Kiste gives you a checklist of things that will be on every exam. He gives you old copies of his exams. He gives you problem sets for practice. He uses LabPal so that you know if you’re doing a lab correctly. He offers his own SWS workshop because there wasn’t one for his section. The people above who say he’s not helpful, what could he possibly do more of except take your tests for you? He’s awesome in office hours and clearly wants his students to “meet their goals” (as he says over and over). He knows not everyone is a chemist, in fact he told us that “Whatever your goal is, I can help you get there. If your goal is just to get a C and move on, I can help you do that, or better.” There are lots of professors here that don’t seem to like teaching freshmen, but he told us that he intentionally chooses to teach freshmen because he wants to help. He expects you to work hard for your grade and he’ll push you hard, but he’ll do whatever he can to help you out. Also, teaching is his research area, so he knows how to help students do well. There’s literally nothing more he could have done to be more helpful to me in his class. Some people thought he was a little intomidating, but I think they were freaked out by his bow ties and didn’t really give him a chance. Also, he has awesome chemistry tattoos. The workload is some sort of activity almost every day that has to be turned in, a quiz on every friday (one question about that week’s stuff, 10 minutes, easy if you’ve been paying attention), a few online quizzes to make sure you’re ready for the activities, and 2 midterms and a final. His grading scale takes some getting used to, but is totally fair.

As someone who struggled greatly with chem in high school, Kiste is amazing. He explains concepts clearly, though you should do the readings before class as he just skims them to leave time for the labs (learn by doing, not listening to lectures). He expects a lot out of you and if you aren't ready to rise to the challenge, don't take the class. If you want to learn, you'll have a great time. His class average is 65%, so he lowers every letter grade correspondingly (A=80+%, etc.). However, it isn't hard to get an A. Just do the labs and get an A on every single one. Study the main topic from the week leading up to quizzes and get a B to an A. Study for midterms by going to office hours, having study sessions, and reviewing all the past exams he gives you and you will do just fine. First midterm, I got a 100! Second, 60. My effort went down and my grade reflected it. However, for the final next week, I plan on putting in the effort that anyone should put into a chem class, the same effort Kiste requires of you to get an A. I'll be getting an A or B. Anything else and it's my fault, not his.

Kiste treats every student like they are stupid, he talks down to you like he is God and makes you never want to ask a question in a class that is really difficult. He also makes the class way harder than it has to be, Midterms that almost everyone fails and scrutinizes labs unnecessarily. Never take Kiste if possible, especially for 127 because you will not receive the general chemistry knowledge you need to prepare for upper level chem classes.

Kiste is a nice person but overall a difficult teacher to learn from. His class is hard but he adjusts his grading scale to account for that. Overall, I think he's a smart person but so much so that its hard for him to dumb down the information for students new to chemistry. There were many times when I had to teach myself the material or look up videos of how to do it online because Kiste couldn't explain it well enough. Also he decided to teach us new material 2 days before our midterm and it happened to be one of the hardest concepts we would learn that quarter. The class average on that test was 60% because almost the whole test was made up of that new material. There was also one time I went to his workshop because I was stuck on a lab problem and he walked me through the entire problem but when he graded the lab he marked me down for answering that question wrong!! He has incredibly high standards for his students and if you want to pass the class with an A or B you really have to work your butt off. Personally I don't think I'd take him again only because I can't learn through his teaching style.

I have taken Kiste for CHEM 127 and 128 now. I genuinely like him as a person: I feel that he is nice, funny, down to earth, and has a genuine interest in his field of study. However, he is not that great of a teacher. He presents the material clearly enough, but his tests are way more in depth than he ever leads on. His 128 class consists of 2 midterms (200 points each), one final (300 points), and lab (200 points). His tests are very hard, the average this quarter came out to be around a 76% I believe. His normal test average is around a 65%, so I guess I had a smarter class. His labs are actually the best part of the class. The way his labs work are you have a quiz every week on the lab that you will be performing that day. Do the Pre-Lab before lab, and that is 5 easy points. The quiz is 10 points. And the actual lab is 15 points. Lab comes out to about 300 points total, but he scales that down to 200. Your lab report is due at the end of the three hour lab, but I've found I usually finish with an hour left. You can almost always do the questions for the lab report before going to lab, so all that is left to do is the lab itself, record your data, results, and a conclusion and turn everything is. I like this way much more than the typical "do the lab, turn it in before next weeks lab, and repeat" because I am finished with lab for the week after one day, instead of having to worry about finishing it outside of lab and turning it in before next weeks lab. Again, I really do like Kiste and am sad that I won't be taking him next quarter, but I feel that it will be more beneficial to my GPA to take Bush over Kiste. Sad to say it, but if you can, avoid Kiste.

Dr. Kiste is a great prof. He does a great job at clarifying his student's difficulties. Make sure to see him in his office hours. He is never condescending and is always helpful. In regards to his exams, yes, they are difficult, but they are rewarding. Especially for those who study the actual concepts and enjoy science. His examples are always realistic and will help his students in the future. They aren't just plug n' chug isolated questions, they are multi-step questions that are usually from scientific journals or can be performed in a lab setting. It's a sigh of relief to take Dr. Kiste. He is a teacher that really understands the information and wants his students to be able to apply chemistry, not just memorize equations that can easily be googled. Props to Dr. Kiste.

I honestly don't know why everybody rates him so badly, at the beginning of the course he told us that the class average for most of his classes was around 60% yet our class average was around 78%. He is a great teacher just attend all of the lectures and you'll be fine. The questions on the finals are easy and you will not be tested on anything not covered in lecture.

dr kiste recently came to poly from UMich, and this was his first quarter teaching 128. from the first day he is very clear about his grading and that although his exam averages are typically in the mid-60s (although my class average was slightly higher), he adjusts the grading at the end of the quarter to suit that average, so getting a C or D on exams does not mean you are stuck with that grade in the class. he is not an unfair grader! chemistry is a difficult subject, and kiste tests to make sure you understand CONCEPTS,not just to see if you know how to solve a standard textbook problem. he does post his past 127 tests (and will now have Winter 2012 exams to post for 128) on his polylearn so you can see the style of questions he asks. his exams are based on real-world applications of what we learn but if you kept up with each chapter the exams are extremely fair. given the small amount of lecture time we have, he does an EXCELLENT job presenting the major points and i only had to brush up with textbook reading. he tells you that the textbook is fair game for exams but he focuses his tests on lecture(DONT SKIP IT!). he is very intelligent and genuinely enthusiastic about chemistry. he wants students to be successful!!! he invites us constantly to stop by his office, and presents several other resources to facilitate our learning (recitation, tutoring from the chemistry fraternity,etc). chem is difficult, and kiste treats this class like a college class that requires effort and leaves you responsible for your own learning but i ended the quarter feeling like i understand the concepts instead of just learning then enough to fake it throught the quarter. i am NOT a chemistry whiz. i got a C in 127 with a different professor, but thanks to Kiste's professional and clear teaching style and the availability of outside resources and practice problems, i was able to get a B in 128. i also like that he teaches his own labs because it adds cohesiveness between lecture and lab. the one thing i will say is that his lab quizzes can be difficult if we havent totally covered the topic in lecture but i failed 8/10 lab quizzes and i still did ok because my good lab report scores buffered those lost points. his lab reports are due at the end of lab which i really like because you dont have to think about it for the following week and you can get help from him. it is a rigorous course but if youre willing to put in the effort, kiste is awesome. very funny and genuinely cares about his students. i don't know why he gets such poor polyratings!

Kiste is AWESOME. He got a bad rep when he first came to Cal Poly because he says he doesn't curve tests and everyone thought they failed the class when actually he does accommodate the scores and most people really get B's. If you study and LISTEN IN LECTURE this is not a hard class. He tells you exactly what is on every test and does example problems and is really helpful. Also his outfits are amazing. And he's really funny and makes silly chemistry jokes. TAKE KISTE HE IS NOT BAD and since he has a bad rep his classes don't fill up as fast but he's still a good teacher...

If you want to understand everything that is wrong with Cal Poly and its overly enabled student commentators, read the messages below. Why do students think they know better about education and pedagogy than professors? Basically, if you do badly, blame the professor, but if you do well, its because you are awesome. This place is really going down the shit hole.

REALLY BAD! I'm not going to talk about the subject material because its similar to Chem127 material which is a pre-req for Chem 128 and comes from the same textbook. I will however say that this professor's main fault was that he would not answer questions or help me and my fellow students. He made tests and quizzes insanely hard and unpredictable as well as degraded us if we were to ever ask questions. He is organized and appears to be knowledgeable but this is not all that is required to be a good teacher. He needs to care more about the students and help students prepare for what they will face on his examinations.

I think I'm going to get a low B or high C in this class. I am not failing, and I think that I would have gotten the same grade in any 128 class. However, Dr. Kiste is literally the worst teacher I have had in my life so far. His tests are adequately described by my predeceasing evaluators, but one thing they didn't mention was "midterm evaluations". After each midterm, we are asked to evaluate Dr. Kiste, but I say don't bother. His interpretations of the evals are much too holistic, and he made this stupid word diagram thing that was supposed to highlight our concerns with NO CONTEXT where the most mentioned word is large and the least mentioned word is small. The saddest part is, his research is "student success in chemistry". Also, he makes these minuscule boxes for your answers, so if you are like me, and need space to work, chances are that you will make a mistake by skipping steps to make your work fit or having to recopy all your work from the back of the page. There are a lot of things I want to say about Dr. Kiste, but I'm going to save my breath and simply say DO NOT TAKE HIM. Not just avoid. LIterally, don't do it. It's better to skip out than to go through what everyone goes through in this class, which is a lowering of self worth and failure. I will say this though, he did make himself available if you stop by his office during non-designated hours.

His tests have absolutely nothing to do with what he talks about in class and going to class doesn't even help because he doesn't cover any of the material or problems that are on the tests. His tests are confusing and do not directly ask the question and he includes huge chemical structure pictures to confuse the students. Would not recommend him at all... way easier and straight forward chem teachers out there.

Professor Kiste is awesome. Quirky, great sense of humor, and definitely doesn't teach from the textbook. However, this last statement can be a bit of a problem. Kiste doesn't cover many equations in lecture, but still expects you to know how to use them. Doing the practice problems in the book and the You Can Do It problems is helpful. Be sure to listen to his fun chemistry facts, these tend to show up on the tests. This class is very difficult, but some students managed to get 100% on a midterm. If you're good at applying knowledge, then this is the class for you.

Dr. Kiste is a great professor. His lectures are intriguing, funny, and he presents the information very clearly. He knows what he is doing and is great at explaining concepts. His tests are very difficult, but he accounts for this with his grading system. A 65% is a B-. That is very generous and fair in my opinion. Many people here complain about how hard he is, but need to realize that they are in college now and that college is hard unlike high school. Getting a 4 year degree is not an easy task and if you think it should be, wake up. I highly recommend Kiste and I really enjoyed his class. Take his class, you'll survive, I promise.

He isn't a bad professor than what's written here. Yes his tests are hard and they're all free response but as a lecturer he actually tries to help his students when they're confused. Trust me, if he didn't he wouldn't have those workshops on Mondays or even have the SWS for his class. If you take his class just get ready for hard tests and pray for partial credit.

I loved Dr. Kiste! Sure, he's hard, but so many students here are giving him a crap grade because they didn't get an A. (oh boo hoo) Kiste made chemistry fun and interesting for me. I would have definitely taken him again if I was a high enough rotation.

I was so scared to take this class as I had not taken chem for over year. It turned out to be totally great! Kiste knows his tests are very difficult and grades appropriately. His style is impeccable. He spent too much time focusing on very simple concepts, but overall he is a great guy and alright professor.

Dr. Kiste is without a doubt the best chem professor I have had at Cal Poly. I have taken Dr. Lampart and Dr. Erker and they have not even scratched the surface to becoming capable of teaching another individual chemistry. Dr. Kiste's class is definitely a workload and I attribute getting a C to not staying as on top of this workload as I should have. Kiste is completely open to helping his students understand concepts and his exams are based on actual/relevant research. Be prepared for labs to be due the next class period after completing a lab. Kiste can be a little annoying when it comes to chemistry and staying on top of your work but his heart is in the right place. DO NOT BE AFRAID TO TAKE HIM, trust me you'll be glad to have taken him

I'm not going to lie, Kiste's class was difficult. Regardless, I still enjoyed the class (as much as you can enjoy chemistry) and really liked him as a professor. He really knows his stuff and is very passionate about chemistry.

Dr. Kiste is a great guy. At first I was extremely intimidated by him because he's just that freaking smart. He can seem condescending at times, and at first it made me apprehensive to attend office hours or his workshop. Don't let that get the best of you! He's really cool once you get used to him, and very helpful. That being said, the exams are the most difficult thing I have ever encountered. He gives you practice exams, my advice is to go through all of what he gives you (midterm 1, 2, final) because the material is switched around a bit. I started on those a week beforehand and got a B on all my exams. The labs are pretty easy points if you go to workshop, he'll practically do the whole thing with you. Only do checkpoints if you need basic understanding of concepts, and the textbook actually helped as well! (for conceptual ideas and a deeper understanding) Don't be fooled by his grading scale, I dedicated probably 15 hrs a week JUST for his class and managed with a B-. Also, take advantage of the LAs!! I had probably the best LA ever and he helped so much.

I have never written a PolyRating about a professor before but I definitely had to after taking him. He is one of those teachers whose lectures do not match their test material. His test questions are worded in a rather complicated manner that confuse you if you do not fully comprehend the test material. Unless you are someone with a natural knack at understanding chemistry and its concepts, I would not recommend taking him. He makes it seem as though his rescaled grading scale is doing you some big favor because he cares but I don't really think he does. I know people that have cried in his class including myself. I know that there were definitely people in his class that did really well and I admire them but if you're just trying to get through the chemistry series with as little stress as possible, take someone else. He's definitely knowledgable and I do not have any negative feelings against him, but his class caused me a lot more stress than it did actually teaching me anything.

Dr. Kiste really emphasizes mastery in Chemistry, as he give extremely difficult exams. His problems go far beyond the concepts in the book and it will catch you off guard. If you want to pass, you would need to go to his office hours and the three other study resources he recommends because he cannot fit all the material in lecture. I spent most of my time studying for this class and hired a tutor, and I am probably going to fail. I'm a grown man, and after his tests I'd want to cry. So if you got the gut to take him, prepare yourself and make sure you have a strong handle on concepts from Chem127&128. On a positive note, he is a funny, young, nice guy overall.

out of my first 3 quarters at cal poly (with at least 4 classes each quarter) kiste is by far the worst professor ive had. im a biochem major so i think its imperative that i actually learn chemistry but i didnt learn jack shit in his class all quarter. his class consists of 2 midtems, a final, our lab grade, and the cumulative ACS exam that was worth 10% of our grade. firstly his tests: they were ridiculously complicated. it would be understandable if he gave us questions that were more in depth than the concepts that we had learned in class but often times he had questions that he had never even mentioned in lecture. Secondly lab: he would lecture for over a fucking hour at the beginning of lab so we rarely ever got out before 3 hours. sometimes we even went over 3 hours and people would be late to other classes. the ACS exam was the only rational and fair test we took all year and he didnt even grade it on the standard scale, instead he used his own retarted grading method. for every midterm and final the average was under 60 percent so he basically just bumped everyones grade up a few letters and claims his student are earning As and Bs when really everyone is failing cause hes not teaching shit. at first i didnt think he was that bad but eventually going to his lectures was the low part of my week and i didnt even go all the time cause he lectured about complete bullshit. he literally read lines from a star wars script and pretended it was sorta related to chemistry. kiste is a FUCKING IDIOT and a TERRIBLE teacher. the only reason i got a B was because i taught myself everything and learned it from other teachers and students. do not take him if you have any other options. if you dont, im so sorry :(

Some people should learn how to spell before posting reviews. Retarted isn't a word. It also sort of takes away from your emphasis of how much of a "fucking idiot" and "terrible teacher" Dr. Kiste apparently is. I wish that reviews such as yours were banned for this website. If you care about anything, you'd care about maintaining the reputation of our school (by not slandering its professors or coming on this website and mindlessly cursing), because it'll be the only thing you'll have after graduating from CP, if you can even manage that. If you that he was the worst teacher you've ever had, at least leave some constructive criticism/advice for upcoming students - not just a rant!

Worst teacher I've ever had at poly! First off, I'm a student who normally gets A's/ B+'s in chemistry, and I got a B in the class. I'm slightly disappointed, but I seriously went through hell for that B. Being in his class made me want to give up and quit school because he is that discouraging. First day of class, he talks about his grading system and criticisms for two hours. What a waste of time. I was thinking to myself that his past students were wimps or something but all his criticism are true to the bone. 1. His teaching style is not straight forward as he claims it to be. His theory is that if he teaches the dirt basics, than we can figure out the extremely complicated problems on our own. WRONG. I'm the type of student that needs to practice problems that look just the the test ones. He loves to throw curve balls at you so watch out. His "you can do it" problems look nothing like the test, and they're not even his. He borrowed them from Seth Bush. 2. He thinks that if you learn 50% of the material than that shouldn't be a failing grade. If you learn 50% of his material that you deserve a big high 5 because his shit is hard. I'd rather be given straight-forward work that is possible and learn 90% of it than learn 50% of something impossible, but that's my personal preference. 3. As I said, he admits to all his criticisms, but he blames his students and does not blame himself. Yeah, I'll admit there are students that do things wrong, maybe I'm one of them, but to ALWAYS blame the students and NEVER blame himself is just arrogant. He's extremely stubborn about his teaching style and will not change his ways no matter what anyone says. I think the only way to fix him is to get rid of him. This is his first year here and hopefully his last. 4. On our 2nd midterm, he said our class midterm was a 60% except nobody got in the 90's, one in the 80's, 3 in the 70's, 3 in the 60's, 4 in the 50's, 3 in the 40's and 6 got under 30%. So.. 30% of students got under 30%. If everyone got a score that ended in 9, than the highest possible average would have been 57%. I know that's not true especially since two of my friends were in the 20's. He is a lier. I believe a teacher's job is to teach the material in a straight forward manner, to answer legitimate questions even if they are from sassy students, to give practice problems that resemble test problems, and to encourage his students. In my opinion he did none of those things. I really appreciate you(audience) for taking the time to read this review or else my efforts wouldn't be for a good cause. The only thing I liked was when he repeats a phrase 3 or 4 times in a row. Most of the time I found it funny.

I don't understand why he has such bad rating! Honestly I read these before I took his class and was freaking out but he's not bad at all. He is a very good lecturer and explains everything very well. He also holds his own study sessions, that he runs, for his students which is helpful. He post all his old tests online for you to look at which are usually the same questions as the one he gives you just with different numbers or chemicals. If you have him, don't panic! I think he is a great teacher.

I'm reading through all these comments and I feel the need to write one of my own because most (not all) are so negative. I took CHEM 127, 128, and 129 with Dr. Kiste because I loved his class. I am even planning on taking organic chemistry with him. I do admit his classes are difficult, but it's not impossible if you actually study like you are supposed to. If you want an easy A without much studying then obviously his class is not for you, but if you like challenges and actually study hard, you will love his class. He tells you exactly what he expects from you and the many ways that you can study to do well in his class, he provides his own study sessions and is a great help in office hours (the posters in his office are also pretty cool). His quizzes and midterms aren't usually exact copies of problems that he went through in lecture or lab, they require critical thinking and if you have studied and UNDERSTAND the material then you shouldn't have much of a problem figuring out the answer. I also understand that some people do study hard but just aren't very good with chemistry, in that case go talk to him in office hours, you won't regret it and it will make you feel so much better because you will be more understanding of the material and you will also see that Dr. Kiste really does care about how you are doing in class and help you out. For the 3 courses I got A, A-, A-, respectively. I went to lecture every day, read the book carefully so that I understood all the material (did only a few sample problems), did all the sample midterms and worksheets he provided and went to office hours to have him check them, studied my labs. The one time I did not study as much as usual I think I failed or got a D on the second midterm for 129, but for the Final I got back on track with my study habits and ended with an A- in the class. So in the end, you have to take responsibility for your own grades, don't always blame it on the teacher.

I very much like dr. kiste and recommend him to anyone who is actually interested in learning the material not just passing a class. His class is challenging and you have to put in work, however he is very smart and good at teaching. He understands students and is very willing to help. Not an easy class but a very good guy and teacher. If you actually want to learn and understand ochem, take this class.

Dr. Kiste teachers ochem in a very exciting and fun way. He knows the concepts are difficult for students to grasp and does a good job presenting the material. He is very intelligent and is willing to answer everyone's questions. He is one of my favorite professors I've ever had! I used to dislike chemistry but now i have a new found interest in it thanks to Dr. Kiste!

I usually wouldn't write anything on here but after reading how negative the reviews for Dr. Kiste are, I felt like I needed to. I loved Dr. Kiste. He is funny, smart, cares about his students and presents material in a clear way (as long as you consistently pay attention). He is SO helpful in office hours and even hosted additional workshops for our class once a week to go over whatever we wanted. It was very clear that he really wanted his students to not just get through the class but to actually learn the material. His tests are quite difficult but if you do his practice exam problems and go to him in office hours then they aren't too bad. I don't know why he has such a bad rep, I thought he was a fantastic professor. I would take him again in a heartbeat.

when alexander bell invented the telephone he had three missed calls from dr. kiste

Fine teacher, but a little dry in the presentation. I wouldnt suggest having her at 8:00 in the morning, might be difficult staying awake.

KISTE IS SOOOOO AWESOME HIS outfits are really cool!!!!!!!! and his socks and bowties